Pedestrians And Car Accidents: Is It Always The Driver’s Fault?

In most cases, it is the driver who is held responsible for almost any pedestrian vs. car accident — however, is the one behind the wheel really always at fault? Careful analysis shows that there are situations when the fault lies entirely with the pedestrian, as well as situations when both the driver and the pedestrian share the blame.

Special Attitudes Toward Drivers

The reason why drivers are usually viewed as the guilty party is simple: regardless of who is actually to blame, usually it is the pedestrian accident victim who is, well, a victim — at least in the sense of suffering physical injuries. As the driver has a greater potential to harm those around them, they are expected to exercise extra caution whenever pedestrians are present or are likely to be present.

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The general principle in defining whether the driver is guilty of the accident or not is what is perceived as the responsible behavior of a normal, careful, and prudent person under the circumstances. For example, even if a driver moves at a humble speed of 25 miles per hour, they will still be liable for any potential accident if they see a child riding a bike ahead of them, simply because any careful and prudent person is expected to understand that children are unpredictable and it pays to be extra careful around them.

When Both Parties Hold Responsibility

Of course, each situation is unique and calls for individual analysis, and there are no clear-cut rules that would guarantee that, for example, a pedestrian crossing the road outside of a crosswalk would be found guilty in the case of an accident.

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For example, in this case, pedestrians were crossing the street 20 meters away from an intersection, at night, wearing dark clothes, and during a heavy rainstorm. One would suppose that somebody this oblivious of personal safety would be held accountable for their own actions — but no, the judge decided that both parties were responsible for the accident. Yes, the pedestrians willingly placed themselves in an extremely dangerous position and failed to observe their surroundings, but the driver, having a greater potential of harming others, was still expected to keep a proper lookout and theoretically could have noticed the pedestrians even though they were outside of the crosswalk.

When Pedestrians Are At Fault

Yes, the driver is expected to do what any prudent and careful person would do in the situation at hand. However, simply being prudent is not always enough to avoid a collision, especially when the other party takes no precautions of their own. If a pedestrian suddenly runs into the street right in front of the moving car from behind another vehicle, for example, giving the driver no chance to see them beforehand, the driver isn’t going to be held liable for the collision.

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This means that simply being a pedestrian doesn’t automatically mean that you are not guilty of what happens if you are hit by a car or get into another kind of accident. There are still factors that are likely to put you at fault, and if the court decides that it was your actions that created a dangerous situation on the road, you may be even held fully responsible for all the injuries.

The most important factors that put pedestrians at fault are crossing the street outside of a crosswalk or when the signal says not to cross, crossing while intoxicated, or crossing a highway or busy roadway.

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We hope this information will help you understand your responsibilities on the road, both as a driver and as a pedestrian — and, with any luck, keep you out of harm’s way.

10 Harsh But True Illustrations that Show Our Changed Society

Let’s face it. We are living in a digital age, and there is absolutely no turning back. One of the biggest influences on society these days is social media. It affects us both positively and negatively. Social media was originally designed for people to share interesting facets of their lives with their friends, but it has become so much more than what it intended to be. It is now a medium for information to pass around the globe. In many cases, people first learn about current events through Twitter or Facebook before hearing about them from conventional news sources.We also rely on technology for nearly everything we do. People these days seem as if they can’t go anywhere or do anything without their smartphones, tablets, or laptops. They need to be in constant contact with others via electronic devices.

However, there is also a downside to be too connected to social media and electronic devices. We are too dependent on them, which make us oblivious to what we are doing to ourselves. Being too connected can have a negative effect on our lives and the society as a whole. Here are 10 true illustrations that show how our society is negatively impacted because of the use of technology.

1. Facebook is eating away at your time.

How much time do you usually spend each day on Facebook or other social networking sites? Is it hindering your productivity? Do you find yourself wasting time to a point where you don’t even know where it goes? If the answer is yes, Facebook might have eaten away at your time.

2. We’ve become “Likeaholics.”

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When you are posting something on Facebook, are you doing it just to see how many of your friends will give it the proverbial thumbs up? This illustration shows that some people are treating “Likes” on Facebook as if it was a drug they needed to inject into their bloodstreams.

3. Our electronics have priority over our lives.

Given a choice between your dying phone battery or you dying, which will you choose? In this case, the man in this illustration chose to charge his phone over to sustain his own life. As a society, we need to be more careful of our priorities.

4. Our devices are ruining intimacy.

Have you and your loved one ever spent time together where each of you is on your phone instead of communicating face-to-face with each other? Has society reached the point where we can’t even be intimate with each other without being on our phones at the same time?

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5. Families aren’t spending quality time together.

Here is a mother making holiday cookies, but what are the kids doing? They are not making cookies with their mother. Instead, every one of them has their faces buried in their own electronic devices. Television used to be what parents use to babysit their kids. Now, it’s a tablet, phone, laptop or video game that does the job.

6. We’d rather record someone than help them.

A lot is happening in this illustration. A black man is drowning and asking for help. One person has a gun pointed at him. The other person has their iPhone pointed at him and is recording the scene, but is not interested to help this man.

7. Society is sleeping, it’s sleeping its life away.

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Time is money. After we have wasted the long period of time on social media, we are losing the most valuable currency we have – our time in this world.

8. Despite all the technology we have, we still want what someone else has.

There’s an old saying that goes, “The grass is always greener on the other side.” This illustration shows that despite all that we have, we are still not satisfied with our lives.

9. Sensationalism still sells.

With the information overload that exists today, the media still looks for sensationalism. Here’s a woman who feels she has something important to say, but the media only cares about her because she is naked. Would the news media still have microphones in front of her if she wasn’t standing there topless?

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10. In the end, with all of this, we are still killing the planet.

This last illustration argues that despite all of our technological gains, we are still polluting the earth as if we have a virtual gun pointed at Mother Nature. As we build bigger cities and higher technology, how much more damages can we continue to do before putting our lives at risk?